Page 47 of Last Witch Attempt
“She was abused?”
“Not physically. Aunt Tillie was mean to her. My great-grandmother had a reputation for being hard-nosed. Willa was a whiner. She was also proof of my great-grandfather’s wandering eye.”
“Do you think that your great-grandmother finding out about the affair changed things? Would there have been a third sister if she hadn’t discovered his infidelity?”
That was an interesting question. “My great-grandmother was interested in powerful magic. She might have wanted to create a triad. My great-grandfather was non-magical. At least that’s the story. Aunt Tillie doesn’t talk about him much.”
“Your grandmother died when your mother and aunts were teenagers?”
“My mom and Marnie were adults. Twila was still a minor. I think Willa wanted to take her for a bit, because she said Aunt Tillie was a crappy parent, but it didn’t happen.”
“Say what you want about Tillie, but she loves your mother and aunts. That much is obvious. She loves the three of you too.”
“She has a funny way of showing it sometimes.”
Evan chuckled. “She doesn’t want anybody to see her as soft.”
“I guess.” I cocked my head as I regarded the rune. “We need to find out what this signifies.”
“I have Doc on it,” he replied, referring to a member of his group. “He’s useless in the field, so we might as well use him for research.”
“Thanks, but I should be conducting some research too.” I left the first tree and headed to the second. Magic hummed around the clearing, but it wasn’t active. It was as if it had been building and then cut short, ultimately fragmenting as it fell apart. It gave weight to Evan’s theory that whatever was being constructed here was never finished. “I wonder if you’re right about a fourth body.”
“You feel the magic vibrating beneath your feet,” he surmised.
“Yeah. And this morning there were prints along the tree line by the guesthouse. They were like the print you found out here.”
Evan went ramrod straight. “That’s called burying the lede, Bay,” he chastised. “Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”
“What are you going to do about it?” I was genuinely curious. “You can’t sit out there and guard us all night.”
“I’m a vampire. Lurking in the night is what we do.”
That made me laugh. “I don’t want you to do that. It’s creepy. The prints were in a spot where, if something was standing there, it would’ve been staring at our bedroom.”
“And you don’t find that concerning?”
“I just need to know what we’re dealing with. I can’t even go through the motions of setting a trap until we have more information.”
“All we know at present is that our monster likes to run around barefoot and somehow managed to get some arachnids to work for it,” Evan mused. “I thought the arachnids had fled. Scout isn’t going to like it. She threatened them and they didn’t listen.”
“We don’t know that it’s the same arachnids. There could’ve been more than one group. These two seemed sickly. They were definitely weaker than the arachnids Scout described.”
“They could’ve remained behind because they didn’t have the strength to leave,” Evan said.
“And this creature, whatever it is, found them and took advantage,” I added. “They were definitely soldiers.”
“Are there more?”
“I don’t know. There was a lot of film in that cabin. I’m not sure if two arachnids could’ve coated everything that way.”
“If they’re weak, we can eradicate them easily enough. I haven’t seen anything, and I have been out in the woods.”
“Be careful.”
“I can handle a few arachnids.” He made a face. “Come on. That’s just insulting.”
Laughter erupted, and I shook my head. “You’re funny.”
